textproduct: Quad Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Upper low over the Great Lakes Region will keep us under north/northwest flow, ushering cooler and dry air into the region.

- Frost is possible for portions of the area Thursday night and Friday night.

- Pattern slowly breaks down later this weekend and into the next work week, with some return flow working into the region. This will allow temperatures and moisture to increase, with precipitation chances returning to the area.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/

Issued at 230 PM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

A weak shortwave trough will traverse the area tonight bringing a chance for light rain or sprinkles. A dry sub-cloud layer shown on forecast soundings will help to limit amounts to a trace to possibly a few hundredths. Lows tonight will be in the 40s with cloudy conditions expected for most of the night.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 230 PM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

We will remain under the influence of a broad trof and cutoff upper low over the Great Lakes Region through the remainder of the work week and start of the weekend. Within this pattern, we will see bouts of energy gyrate around the upper low, which bring through bouts of cloud cover and low-end chances for precipitation as the disturbances pass through. LLVL flow will remain lighter and generally out of the north/northwest, keeping us under cool/dry advection. Thus, we will be fighting for moisture as these pass through. Chances for precipitation will remain low (<20% chances), yet non-zero. Much of this will come through as spotty light showers or drizzle, with low QPF. Overall, much of the area should remain dry through this timeframe. With such a pattern in place, temperatures will remain below seasonal norms, with daily max temps gradually decreasing each day. Temperatures will remain in the upper 50s to low 60s, keeping us just a little cooler than we have been seeing, with a breeze. With high pressure overhead and a dry air mass in place, frost will be possible across portions of the area Thursday night and again Friday night with lows in the mid/upper 30s for most locations; low temperatures could dip into the lower 30s mainly north of highway 30.

Sunday and into the start of the new work week, we will see stronger northwest flow work into the north-central CONUS. This will usher in some strong waves, which will finally start to shift the aforementioned upper low east. With this, we will start to see a deeper response from these waves, allowing for some llvl return flow into the region. Thus, we will start to see temperatures increase into the mid/upper 60s to low 70s during this timeframe. Along with increasing temperatures, we will see moisture gradually increase, resulting in increasing chances (20-40%) for precipitation through the start of the new work week.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 536 PM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

VFR conditions to prevail through the period. A weak shortwave will track across southern IA this evening, bringing an increase in clouds. A dry sub cloud layer to keep much of this activity as virga, but a few isolated sprinkles/rain showers may reach the ground for a brief period tonight. Otherwise, clouds will decrease behind shortwave early Wednesday, with northwest winds becoming gusty over 20kts late morning/early afternoon.

DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

IA...None. IL...None. MO...None.